Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock and three of his fellow board members bowed out of their roles at America's former homepage, Yahoo.com on Tuesday afternoon. In a bit of corporatespeak, Bostock told shareholders, "We have engaged with potential investors and reviewed proposals concerning an equity investment in the company, although at this time there have not been any proposals which have been deemed by the committee to be attractive to our shareholders... We are also in active discussions with our partners in Asia regarding the possibility of restructuring our holdings in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. The complexity of unique nature of these transactions is significant."

Translation: Yahoo turns 17 on March 1 and company has been struggling to sell off shares as the Internet shifts from a homepage model to the social Web. It's harder than ever for the ballooning multinational corporation to compete with the new kids in Silicon Valley. Though Yahoo still operates the world's largest news portal, other properties like search and Yahoo Mail have been taking a beating from the likes of Google and the soon-to-IPO Facebook. Maybe this explains why folks like co-founder Jerry Yang are taking a step back from the aging business. As potential new investors kick the tires, they'll likely want some fresh eyes to revitalize the brand.

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Adam Clark Estes